Close to 70% of stories focus on top five topics: ‘Online Video’, ‘Media Convergence, ‘High Resolution Video’, ‘IP’ and ‘Cloud/Virtualization

‘Virtual/Augmented Reality’ and ‘Data Analytics’ drop out of the top 10

London, 26 September 2018– Platform Communications, the technology communications expert, announces that the Platform Media Index for IBC 2018 reveals ‘Online Video’ and ‘Media Convergence’ were the hottest topics at the global broadcast industry show – accounting for more than a third of share of voice combined. The Index provides a snapshot of leading media technology trends, moves being made by key industry players, and discussions in the media around the event.

Mirroring last year’s Media Index for IBC, the most covered topic was ‘Online Video’ with a 20.7% share of voice, followed by ‘Media Convergence’ (14.4%), which surged to second place from fourth spot last year. ‘High Resolution Video’ (12.3%) dropped from second to third, with ‘IP’ (11.1%) taking fourth spot and Cloud/Virtualization (10.9%) rounding out the top five, falling from third in 2017.

Gay Bell,Chief Executive,Platform Communications, says: “The Platform Media Index offers a great indicator of the topics creating a buzz at IBC 2018. The spread of coverage of IBC makes clear that, in a year when Netflix reported topping 125 million subscribers, ‘Online Video’ continues to drive discussions both on the show floor and in the media.”

Netflix was the dominant brand in the ‘Online Video’ media coverage, as the Video on Demand pioneer was the primary reference point in the slew of stories on monetization alternatives to the traditional subscription model, new product announcements and services enabling broadcasters to launch their own over-the-top (OTT) services.

“The Index provides a great way to track how industry trends are evolving – seeing which are capturing the imagination and which are falling out of the conversation,” Bell notes. “This year’s results highlight the fact that consumer demands for more advanced TV experiences are really pushing industry innovation.”

Media Convergence was the big mover in the top five, with coverage of major players such as MediaKind (formerly Ericsson Media Solutions) and Synamedia (formerly Cisco Service Provider Video Software Solutions) announcing new products, services and strategies embracing convergence. As with last year’s show and NAB earlier this year, Android TV continues to prompt discussion on what shape the multiscreen revolution is taking. Companies providing the devices, software and overall infrastructure to support deployment of the Google platform drove coverage with product launches and specialist events.

Topics that fell in the Media Index were ‘High Resolution Video’, which slipped one place, ‘Cloud/Virtualization’, which slipped two spots, ‘Content Security’ and ‘User Experience’, both down one. The big losers were ‘Virtual/Augmented Reality’ and ‘Data Analytics’, which fell out of the top 10 altogether. Although VR/AR could still possibly play a big role in broadcast media in future, the limitations of the current generation of hardware and lack of high-quality content has left the initial hype of 2017 looking a bit premature – especially for those with memories of the 3D TV circus that never managed to pitch its tent.

‘Data Analytics’ loss would appear to be a gain for ‘Artificial Intelligence’, as the once hot topic of ‘Big Data’ seemed to morph into ‘AI’ – which rose two places in the Index to eighth spot, doubling its level of coverage to 6% share of voice from 3% last year. Companies that had previously touted their data expertise are now moving into ‘AI’ and ‘machine learning’, which have now emerged as their main talking points – but further growth in coverage appears to be hampered by a lack of concrete examples of products actively using AI already.

Holding steady in the table was ‘Workflow and Media Asset Management’ in seventh spot – but up slightly in share of voice to 6.7% from 6% in 2017 – while ‘IP’ and ‘Next Generation Codecs’ were new to the top 10. With HEVC adoption still relatively sluggish and the Alliance for Open Media finally releasing its new AV1 codec earlier this year, several high-profile articles and conference presentations on the merits of AV1 versus HEVC buoyed coverage on this topic.

Notes to Editors

The Platform Media Index is designed to assess the main drivers of conversation and trends being highlighted in 40 key global media titles covering major industry events. The research for the most recent Index was conducted from September 3 through to September 19, 2018. The IBC 2018 conference and exhibition took place in Amsterdam September 12-18. Platform staff analyzed and scored the stories produced daily by these 40 media outlets,which span leadingbroadcast, video, marketing, digital technology, telecoms and general business titles.

About Platform Communications

Platform Communications is behind some of the most talked about brands in media & entertainment, enterprise, telco, consumer tech and mobile. The team runs award-winning integrated, global campaigns that engage audiences and achieve real business results. Find out more at www.platformcomms.com.

Cookie and Privacy Settings

How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our site functions. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visist to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Click to enable/disable google analytics tracking.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Click to enable/disable google webfonts.

Google Map Settings:

Click to enable/disable google maps.

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Click to enable/disable video embeds.

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.